The final day...
Mom started the day with some photos of the sunrise, up at 5am! We began our drive back to Auckland at about 9am. It was another beautiful sunny day, perfect for a quick stopover in Taupo for some coffee and photos of the lake. Then it was on our way again, with not too much time to spare. The van was due back at 4pm and we pulled in at 3:57! After unloading all of our stuff we took the free shuttle to the “airport” really another car rental place to see about hiring a car to get back to Bayswater. They ended up not having any to give us and had us try their neighbors. Fortunately they had just what we wanted! A small, economical Toyota Vitz! A tiny little thing, but automatic so I could drive it and give Dad a break after driving 4000km in 2 weeks! We came home and exchanged stories about our holidays with John and Julia, heard about their camping with the kids as they arrived home only a couple of hours before us! We had some dinner and then a mini planning session/debate about what to see and add into our itinerary when we head up north tomorrow after hiking Rangitoto in the morning. Also, Dad just found out the address of someone he graduated high school with a couple days ago. Turns out he’s only a 20 min drive north of Auckland in Orewa (a beach I’ve already been to and posted pictures of) and he’s invited us for a BBQ tomorrow afternoon! So the campervan adventure comes to a nice safe ending...thank goodness, and the the North Island adventure begins! Unfortunately, it will be much shorter but hopefully just as spectacular!
It was another early morning this morning to check into the ferry by 5:30am! Once on board, stead of head out of the campervan and up to the deck for passengers I just climbed back into bed and stayed there for the 3 hour ride. We arrived in Wellington, did a quick loop around the city and then head straight for Napier in Hawke’s Bay. As some guy on the ferry recommended, we drop up 2 to the east coast, stopping at this little cafe on the way. It has some pretty delicious pastry items that were our breakfast/lunch. We arrived in Bay View, just north of Napier where we are staying the night a a holiday park. We rented some bikes for the rest of the day and cycled into Napier on a nice flat route along the coast, checking out a restaurant we’d booked for dinner and some of the city center along the way. We ate at Provodore, recommended in the travel book, and it was pretty yummy! My favorite part was a tapas starter, deep fried goat cheese balls with chopped almonds and honey! I wanted to get some more for dessert they were so delicious! We cycled back against the wind and I packed up my things to move out of the campervan while Mom went to get some more beach photos and tried to get the sunset behind the mountains. Mom and Dad plan on getting up for the sunrise in the morning, since it will be right over the water. I think I’ll be content to just see the photos. Sunsets are more my thing, and at a more reasonable hour of the day! Last day of the campervan adventure tomorrow, headed back to Auckland to drop it off, with possible stop-offs at Taupo and Rotorua on the way.
Ferry crossing back to the North Island
my friend on my bike ride to Napier, just a little baby and he hung on for so long!
Napier-view across from our restaurant
The Provodore, which we couldn't find cause it had no sign!
Hawke's Bay
Hawke's Bay sunset..sunrise was better...but that's for tomorrow's post!
Today the craziest, strongest wind ever woke us up! We’d planned to get up around 6:30am anyway to start our drive north to Nelson, but we woke up even earlier because our campervan was shaking side to side almost like it going to tip right over! We noticed some huge trucks driving down the winding roads and cars as well so we decided we’d try making the drive. Turns out driving was okay, just a few huge gusts of wind off the Tasman as we came around corners. It was also raining pretty steadily the whole way. So we were greeted by rain in the South Island and then sent off with rain! In Nelson, we visited Founders Brewery and did a tasting, I actually liked a couple of them. The Long Black, which had a hint of coffee and chocolate, the darkest of the 5, and also The Long White Cloud, a wheat beer, the lightest in color. From there we headed into the city center for a little walk around, checking out some of the cafes and the oldest preserved street in NZ, South St, from the 1860s. After having a look down the main streets we got back in the van and headed to Picton where we’d spend our last night on the South Island before taking the ferry at 6:30am, final check-in at 5:30! We pulled into our site, finally at a reasonable hour, and then walked into town to have some dinner. The place was dead! Such a complete change from when we first arrived! I suppose the Christmas-New Year holiday is over so most people have returned home!
Unfortunately this morning we awoke to the sound of rain. Sure enough, our half day fox trot guided glacier walk was canceled. We could have tried to get on one of the afternoon walks but they were fully booked and on hold due to the weather. Instead we went to Lake Matheson, as recommended by the woman working at reception of the holiday park. It was just down the road and had a pretty walk around the lake with views of Mt. Cook and Mt. Tasman in the distance, reflecting into the water. I’m sure it would have been stunning on a sunny day, but the clouds made it slightly less impressive. It was still a nice walk though and instead fern coils, or the koru spiral, significant in Maori culture, became the focus of our picture-taking. From there we drove to a spot that advertised one of the best views of the two high peaks with Fox Glacier coming down in between them. Again, I could certainly see how the view would be even more impressive if there weren’t so many clouds! However, it still was pretty cool to see the glacier in the distance.
We decided to drive up to Franz Josef Glacier for our next walk. In the rain, but with lots of other tourists, we walked our to the terminal face of the glacier. Once we reached the edge of the forest, the rest of the walk was in the wide river bed and looked like it was so close. The massiveness of the mountains and the glacier were deceiving and really it took about 30 min or more to get to the end of the trail which brought us to 150m from the glacier. Had we been on a guided walk we would have actually gotten to stand on the glacier itself and learn a bit more about it I’m sure! There were also some pretty amazing giant waterfalls coming down into the river which provided for some entertaining photos as well. On our walk back to the carpark we passed one guided walk and in the group were 3 of the people we did the Nevis Arc with the day before, 5 hrs away in Queenstown! The itinerary for traveling around down here must be pretty much the same with everyone!
We ate lunch/dinner at The Landing in the Franz Josef Glacier township and had some huge meals. I had bbq ribs with spiced potato wedges with sour cream and they were delicious! We also recognized the people sitting at the table next to us from our walk around Lake Matheson in the morning, about a 40 min drive south. We continued our drive north up the coast and decided to stop for the night in Punakaiki to see the pancake rocks which looked pretty impressive even in cloudy darkness at 9:30. We thought maybe we could just get away with camping in the carpark for the rocks, since another two cars were there, but at about 10:15pm someone drove up and said there was no camping, apparently there was a sign on the other side that we didn’t see. So we had a bit more driving to do tonight and ended up at another pull-off on the side of the road where two other vans are parked, we’re assuming we are allowed to camp here!
Better known as Queenstown adventure day! This morning started with trip out to the Nevis Arc site at 8:40am. Dad and I swung on the world’s highest swing! I went backwards and he went forwards (gives you more of the ground rush feeling but since I had plenty of that on my skydive in Taupo I decided to see what it was like to fall backwards). There was a 70m drop and then a 300m swing out across the canyon, still pretty high up from the river at the bottom. After a few back-and-forths you just hang there for a little before they start to bring you back up to the platform slowly. We were proud of Mom for even walking across the suspension bridge that went out to the launching platform. Though she couldn’t get too close to the edge and the railing...but she did well to get some good pictures of us! We also had the option for a countdown release or a surprise, we both went with a surprise, which gave you just a little more or a thrill. One guy that went before us was still terrified when he came back up again, couldn’t wait to get his feet back on the ground! The bus ride back down the hill was probably the scariest part, one way road up the cliff with drop-offs on both sides! Then it was a 40 min ride back into town and we passed by the Kawarau bridge which we’d be jumping off of later in the afternoon! We had a couple of hours to spare in Queenstown for lunch and it was an absolutely gorgeous day! Nice warm sunshine and clear skies! We had some lunch outside and then some ice cream and sat around down by the water watching the jet boats come and go.
At 2:40 we boarded our next bus back out to the Kawarau bridge and got weighed and sent right up the bridge. There’s really no time to get worried or change your mind, we got to watch 1 or 2 people go before us before getting harnessed up ourselves. On the platform they take a few pictures and then it’s 3-2-1 go, 43m to the river. I asked to touch the water, but not get my shoes wet. I just dove off the bungy platform like I was diving into a pool and went to about waist deep in the water. Then you bounce back up and drop about 2 more major times before 2 people in a boat come and collect you. They have you grab the pole and then bring you down and unclip you and take you to shore. I liked that system better than if we had done the Nevis Bungy which was 134m and above the same canyon we did the swing over. There you just dangle and they have to raise you back up into the jumping pad because you’re still miles away from the water even after jumping 134m, crazy! I have the photos and video from both adrenaline-filled activities, which I will try to post when I get the chance, and internet to do it!
Upon returning to Queenstown from the bungy, we began our journey north up the west coast to Fox Glacier. On the way, we managed to get to the Tasman Sea coastline at the perfect time to see the most beautiful sunset ever! We stopped in one place, and took a few photos and discovered some KILLER mini flies that just started to attack. We hadn’t really had a bug problem at all until reaching the west coast and they were ferocious! We could only take so many photos cause Dad was getting attacked holding Mom up on the back bumper of the campervan to see over the bush. It was then like a race against the setting sun to find a better lookout spot before it went down. This one car found the perfect place, but were taking really the only space to pull off onto (seeing as all of the roads are winding and skinny)! Luckily we came to a public lookout/car park with a gorgeous view of the cliffs and the sea. We couldn’t believe at 9:45pm we were still taking sunset pictures! With the clouds the sky turned all shades or orange and pink and even red as we continued to drive on! There was another car there, a guy who lives in the area came out to take some photos, so it must have been an extra special one!
We continued on our drive, crossing about 100 one-lane bridges, and counting 38 possums (alive this time) and a rabbit and a hedgehog! Actually, I’m pretty sure we squished one by accident...they were all just hanging out in the road or right next to it, now I see why Sophie and I counted so many dead ones! Finally we arrived at Fox Glacier at about 11pm, found ourselves a space to park in the holiday park (as they directed us to since we tend to arrive after reception closes), showered and went to sleep.
waiting in line to check in and get weighed
bus didn't quite make the corner while we were waiting in line a the bungy place..
